Hmm. Ive admired Amy Pascal from a distance for a long time. Though shes apologized, I remain genuinely disappointed. On the other hand, Im not sure Im surprised. There really are very few (no) blacks in powerful positions in Hollywood. And this chain of emails suggests the reason: if we are seen as jokes, or incapable of having expansive tastes or appreciated on the merits, why would the power holders advance us on the business side in the industry? When even the democratic president of the United States is relegated to assinine jokes by liberal Hollywood execs, why would we expect to see blacks advanced here? This is problemmatic, not for reasons of morality or equity, but because of the causes and effects of implicit bias. the implicit bias that inhabits our collective subconscious is by and large a function of the images we are exposed to by media; it informs our stereotyping (or simplifying mechanisms) and colors our perspective on people we havent met. Unless and until the film, television, music, advertising, media and other industries project images of black people that reflect us in all of our beauty and complexity, we are likely to continue to be defined by negative stereotypes, mocked by executives and subjugated to tasteless jokes about our cultural tastes. Because you know, the president of the United States and Harvard graduate obviously only likes and has been exposed to black films. (Not that anything is wrong with that, 12 Years was an amazing film).
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 05:59:51 +0000
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